Clothesline reel and tightener



1953 w. M. DU-NNOCK CLOTHESLINE REEL AND TIGHTENER Fil-ed Aug. 29, 1950INVENTOR. WILL/AM M. DUNNOCK MM FIG. 3

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 27, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLOTHESLINEREEL AND TIGHTENER William M. Dunnock, Baltimore, Md.

Application August 29, 1950, Serial No. 182,087

2 Claims.

This invention relates to tighteners or winders for clotheslines andmore particularly to those that have provision for the prevention ofundue unwinding. It has among its objects to provide a new and improvedclothesline reel that will avoid some of the disadvantages andlimitations of the prior art. Another object of the invention is toprovide a new and improved clothesline reel that can be locked readilyto prevent unwinding, or hold it in an established Wound up position bya simple and effective locking element incorporated in its construction.Other objects will become apparent as the invention is more fully setforth. These objects will be in part indicated specifically, whileothers will be appreciated from general observation, study andcomparison with the known art.

For a clearer comprehension of the invention. and its objects referenceis made to the accompanying drawings. These drawings in conjunction withthe following explanation present a particular form of the invention, byway of example, while the claims emphasize the scope of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of clothesline reel embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view through the reel taken on line 33 of Figure1.

Similar parts throughout the figures are designated by the samereference numerals.

The drawings indicate a clothesline reel of somewhat conventionalappearance. It consists of a bifurcated yoke l having its arms llprovided with holes l2 transversely through it for positioning a shaft[3 therethrough. The holes l2 are located towards the free ends 15 forthe shaft. A hole l6 for the holding rope i! is provided in the top orbend [4 of the yoke. The holes l2 serve as bearings for the shaft H)which supports a clothesline reel l8 thereon. The reel 18 is preferablyformed with a central hub 20 made integral with the disc-like walls I9that encompass the clothesline as it is rolled up thereon. The hub 20has a passage 2| through it for the shaft l3 to pass through and projectbeyond the exterior surfaces of the walls I 9. One of the walls [9receives a spiral spring 23 therein. The spring may be fiat or round andof spiral form and tends to wind up the reel and coil the clothesline 24thereon. The stationary end portion 40 of the spring is fastened to theyoke and the other end of the spring 4| is fastened to the wall of thereel l8 as indicated. The opposite end portion of the shaft 13 is largerand screw threaded at 25 and has a nut 26 engaging it. When this nut 26is screwed towards the adjacent arm ll of the yoke it binds against thisarm and brakes it against the wall of the reel. When the nut is loose itdoes not obstruct the rotation of the reel. A knob 21 is tightlyattached to the shaft I3 so that it can turn it when pressure is needed.The crank 28 and handle 29 are mounted or are part of the shaft I3 toenable the shaft and reel to be rotated by them. The reel is fastened tothe shaft l3 by a pin hook 3| that causes them both to be operatedtogether when either is turned. The shaft [3 is undercut at 59 toreceive a slotted spring washer 5| to hold the assembly in the yoke 10.A screw 55 is used to tighten the knob 21 to the shaft l3.

When it is desired to place the rope on the reel, the handle 29 isrotated to unwind the spring 23. The end of the rope 24 is then anchoredto the reel through the pin 31 and the reel is allowed to wind the ropethereon through the action of the spring 23. The bent portion [4 of theyoke I0 is secured to a wall or post by another rope I! passing throughthe hole l6 and secured to the end of the yoke, and the free end of therope 24 is pulled out from the reel and anchored. The clothes to bedried are placed on the rope 24 and the handle 29 and/or knob 21 isrotated to take the slack out of the loaded line 24 and the nut 26 istightened against the arm ll of the shackle [0 to prevent the reel fromturning and to relieve the load from the spring 23.

While but one general form of the invention is shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification, it is not desired to limit thisapplication for patent to this particular form, as it is appreciatedthat other forms of construction could be made that would use the sameprinciples and come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

l. A clothes line reel and tightener comprising a yoke having bifurcatedarms, a shaft extending through the said arms, means for securing theshaft to one of said arms, a reel having a hollow hub mounted on saidshaft, said reel having end disc walls and one of said disc walls havinga recess therein between the said disc wall and the adjacent arm of theyoke, a coil spring housed in said recess, said spring being anchored atone end to the last mentioned disc wall and its opposite end anchored tothe last mentioned arm of the yoke, means on the shaft adjacent theother disc wall for adjustably binding the 2,626,763 v 3 4 reel and theyoke, and a rope secured to the REFERENCES CITED aforesaid hub g'rotatable therewlth' The following references are of record in the 2. Aclothes line reel and tightener as set forth me of this patent: in claim1, the means for adjustably binding the reel and the yoke consisting ofa. threaded por- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS tion on the shaft extendingoutwardly through Number Name Date one yoke arm and a threaded nutthereon and 584,315 Amundson June 15, 1897 screwable to a point ofcontact with the yoke to 1,028,770 Moser June 4, 1912 immobilize thesaid shaft, reel and yoke. 1,556,806 Peterson Oct. 13, 1925 10 1,653,858Kindler et a1. Dec. 27, 1927 WILLIAM M. DUNNOCK. 2,494,525 Steuart Jan.10, 1950

